


My Breaking Point

by SouredLimes



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-05-16 20:30:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14818340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SouredLimes/pseuds/SouredLimes
Summary: Rakan and Xayah go to stop a transport of Lhotlan prisoners before they reach the Ude prison. To save their people and rebel against Ionia, but at what cost?





	1. The Plan

_ Tap Tap Tap _

 

Rakan tapped at his gold compact mirror he had been fidgeting with in his hands, tossing it up whilst pushing himself off the rough bark of the curved tree he leaned against.

 

“I don’t see it” Xayah climbed higher into the tree Rakan was leaning against. “It should have been here  **ten** minutes ago.”

 

Rakan looked up at her, she was squinting at the open fields looking for the transport.

“Maybe they’re late, I know I’d want to stop and look at these fields…” He knelt down twirling the stocky red grass over his clawed fingers feeling the dew slip and slide down his fingers and into his palms. 

 

“ _ Maybe we’ll come back to this place to lay in the fields.” _

 

Rakan’s smile grew wide,

 

“ _ Maybe we can goto Jyom for the Blossom Festival again…” _

 

He sighed, the time they had at Jyom was the best they’ve had yet, eating strange human foods.  _ “Stickfood” _ He drooled,  _ “We can eat stickfood and watch the fireworks again, and this time I am getting my face painted, I don’t care what Xayah says.” _

 

“Babe, did you get any of that?”

 

_ “What Xayah says,” _ Rakan sighed, ” _ Shit. _ ”

 

His grin did not falter, “Yup, all of it.”   
  


“Repeat it back to me.”   
  
Rakan rolled his eyes and looked at her, “You, said that,” He pulled at his feathers looking for the right answer to give to her, “That we’d be going to Jyom for stickfood?” He blinked at her as his ears swiveled around.

 

“No, not even close, you need to pay attention please, this could be the cost of our lives, your life,  **my life.** ”

 

Rakan faced her instead of the grass and lost his smug grin.

 

“Alright, I’m listening.” Rakan’s ears flicked in Xayah’s direction

 

Xayah pointed at the group of people surrounding a large reddish tortoise with some sort of stone tower on its back, from the hill it wasn’t visible that the men were transporting prisoners but from what Rakan could feel…

 

There was a strong magic coming from inside that cramped castle on the big guy’s back, there’s no way his people weren’t being held in there. Usually it felt like a faint scratching or itch of an old woven spell when Rakan could sense magic. This magic... This magic was screaming at Rakan, banging on the walls of his head to do something about it, set it free. Rakan hadn’t felt so much pent up magic like this in a long time, in such a small place.

 

“-And then you need to get above them-” 

 

Rakan cut her off, 

 

“They’re all trapped in there, trying to break free…”   
  


“I know babe,” 

 

“They’re throwing magic around there, I can sense it from here, that prison has something special about it…” Rakan grit his teeth.

 

“What is it?” She pressed him.   
  


“I think it’s absorbing the magic” his voice dying out at the word magic,

 

“You think you know or you know you know.” Xayah questioned.

 

“...I think I know.” he said unsure of himself.

 

“Maybe their magic isn’t built to break stone.” she reasoned. She didn’t care if it could absorb magic, she was going to destroy it and get her people out. She handed him the coil of rope she brought along.

 

“You ready?”

 

“What’s this for?” his ears flicked up.

 

“Rakan!” and then they flicked back down.

 

Xayah went over the plan, one last time, fast and clean so Rakan wouldn’t need to focus for long.

 

“You see those guys on the ground, I want you to distract them while I get on top to get the key from the rider on top.

“Okay.”

 

After you have their attention, throw the rope over the tortoise’s neck and tug as hard as you can, “ Xayah tapped her foot, 

 

“Got it?”

 

“I got the plan but…” Rakan paused.

 

“But what?”

 

“Xayah”

 

Rakan got close to her, he clasped her hands and wove his fingers between hers, Rakan locked eyes with her making sure she was listening, “I need you to promise me something, please.”

 

“What is it?” she gave him a worried frown, what’s wrong?

 

He took a quick breath, “Promise me you won’t kill anybody we don’t have to, I don’t want see them die, it isn’t their fault.” He squeezed her hands, she squeezed back. Rakan’s typical grin turned upside down, his eyebrows knit in anticipation for her answer.  _ “I need you to tell me you won’t hurt them more than we have to.” _ Rakan’s thoughts were finally focused, he needed her to promise him that. 

 

She sighed and her gaze fell to his feet while her eyebrows raised up, “Rakan, you know we do what we have to for them, they need us t-”

 

“They need us to get out, not to kill everyone there.”

 

She began once more, “Babe, please don’t-” 

 

“No, Xayah please, I need you to promise me that you won’t try to kill more than you have to.” He frowned at her, unhappy with her hesitation in answering the question. Rakan was beginning to get upset with her, she knew he didn’t like the bloodshed, it was unnecessary to kill everyone. Why couldn’t she just promise me this, what’s stopping her.   
  


“I’ll try,” She spoke crestfallen, her voice unpleased with the outcome of this conversation. Xayah sighed and looked up back at Rakan, “What are we waiting for?”

 

“Let’s get going then my love.” He was back to his old smug self, He grabbed and poked at her sides as he unwove their fingers, listening to her giggle as she swatted at his outstretched fingers brought a smile to his face. He waved his left hand back at his plumage, Xayah moved in to tug at them and straighten them out. 

Their golden glow illuminated her face and violet feathers, they pulsed at her touch as Rakan felt tingles climb his spine. 

She grabbed at the feather closest to his shoulder.

 

_ Crack _

 

Rakan gasped as she took the feather, his smile didn’t fade after she plucked it. He rolled his eyes at her, after a few seconds his plumage began to glow brighter. His feathers were glowing white as a streak of gold shot down where Xayah plucked his feather. The feather was replaced and their glow returned to a calm firefly-like glow. The new feather laid flat where his old feather was plucked.

 

She tucked the feather in raven’s skull she wore, letting it’s golden tail rest against her shoulder.

 

Rakan pulled away and began his slide down the hill, the morning sun warmed his skin as he exposed himself from the cover of the crimson trees.

 

It was time to set the Lhotlan magic free.


	2. The Free People

“Hey wait up!” Rakan pushed himself out of the crimson fields, right in front of the transport.

 

Luckily for him, the guards stopped and raised their left hands signaling for the rider to stop the tortoise.

 

Rakan was beaming with a carefree smile as he approached the guards, each one looked more annoyed than the last. Rakan looked at them with wide innocent eyes and walked with sluggish, compressed movements. The charmer wanted to appear like an innocent child, who didn’t know any better. 

 

“What are you guys doing with this moving fortress?” He bounced on the tip of his feet knowing the guards were already suspicious of his behavior.

 

They looked at each other, each one had weapons held firmly in their grasp. The guard standing furthest ahead spoke from his chest, “Move out of our way,  _ Vastaya _ .” His last word was spat with venom, his hatred was obvious but Rakan wasn’t phased.

 

“Vastaya? I am more than just than just a Vastaya-” 

 

A guard in the back chimed in, “Yeah, you’re annoying too.”

 

“And you have less than 2 seconds to get out the way.”

 

Rakan gave them a bored look, he had been through this game more times than he could count.

 

“And what if I don’t?”

 

“Then we’ll have to get rid of ya’.” 

 

Each guard readied their weapons, poised to strike the Vastaya if he didn’t comply with the brutes.

 

Rakan’s eyes narrowed, he surveyed the guards carefully taking note of each of their weapons.

 

_ Five guys total, _

_ A sword, spear, tubebo- _ Rakan stopped himself,  _ Rifles... and an axe. _

 

His stance changed from a lost child to a confident dancer

 

_ Okay Rakan you can do this, show em’ what you’re made of, you’re so much finer than these guys, time to show it. _ Rakan mentally prepared himself for what he was about to do.

  
  


**“Three!”** A man in the back bellowed.

 

Rakan put on his signature grin.

 

“ **Two!”**

 

_Click crack_ , The rifles were set to make new holes upon the Vastaya’s chest.

 

The man counting paused giving Rakan one last chance to back down, to stop whatever game he was playing.

 

**“...One!”**

 

Rakan spun letting his feathers envelope his body and fan out in front of him. In one swift motion his feathers unleashed a dazzling white light. The guards yelped in surprise, not expecting the golden man to do something unexpected like that. 

 

Rakan’s body was wrapped in a flurry of magic as he sprinted to the guards, he liked to call this trick “The Quickness.” The magic pulsed from his feathers, he didn’t have long before they would need to rest.

 

Coming close to the spear wielding guard, he leaped over the tall man letting his feathers brush up against his rugged face. As Rakan landed on his clawed feet the man fell unconscious, the burst of magic sent through him shut down his body just for a little while. This little trick would give Xayah all the time she needs to get their people far away from this moving cell block.

 

_ Bang! _

 

A shorter guard tried to get a clear shot but missed entirely, there was no way any of them could take aim after being dazed by such an intense light like Rakan’s.

 

Rakan snatched the rope from waist and hurled it high over the tortoise’s neck,  _ I’ll grab it last. _

 

He went on to his next target, the sword wielding guard. He placed both his hands on the man’s shoulders and pushed himself over the brute, forcing the poor guy to endure a harsh fall onto the ground. He wouldn’t feel a thing however, the magic already took him into a deep slumber.

 

The next target was the tallest of the bunch, an axe wielding giant who swung his free hand around trying to grip Rakan. Instead of vaulting the towering man he locked hands with him and swung around him, letting his plumage ghost along his sides putting the guard out cold.

 

The guards in the back still haven’t recovered from the flash of light.

 

Rakan started with the man on the ground, trying to reload his rifle.

 

His feathers wrapped around the man and pulsed with their numbing power, putting the man in a peaceful trance. Rakan caught the man before he could hit the ground and laid him down gently on the floor.  _ One less bruise he’ll have to worry about _ . Sure the men spoke down upon him but they didn’t know any better, magic doesn’t have to hurt people, it can be painless.

 

Magic, why did they fear it so much? Some of them use it, so what makes mine any different? They know that magic won’t hurt them, Ionia was born a magic spring of life, why do they live here if they’re so scared of it?

 

His golden plumage lost its heavenly glow.

 

_ Pow! _

 

A bullet grazed by Rakan’s side causing him to yelp in surprise. The bullet left a red patch of skin on his hip, it snatched him away from his intrusive thoughts. 

 

_ If that hit me… _ He cut the thought off before it could take over his head.

 

Rakan shuffled to the blinded man, once was close enough he raised his right hand to the sky.

 

“I am more than Vastaya, I am Lhotlan, I am the charmer,”

 

He brought his open palm down hard over the man’s exposed head,

 

**CRACK**

 

The man was paralyzed for a moment before falling flat at Rakan’s talons.

 

“I am,” He paused putting his hands on his hips,

 

“Rakan” bellowing with pride in his voice.

 

After sighing he grabbed both ends of the rope and yanked hard, the tortoise put its head down and stayed still.

 

Rakan walked over to each of the men and began to drag them behind the tortoise, one by one he put them on their backs. After they were lined up, he took each of their weapons and tossed them all into the stocky grass. After wiping his hands together he pretended to brush fake dust off his cloak, time to see what Xayah was doing.

  
  


Before Rakan could climb the tortoise’s back he noticed a figure jumping off from behind as well as two more following it. All three hit the ground at the same time, in unison they turned around to face Rakan.

 

_ Thwack thwack thwack thwack thwack _

 

Rakan heard the sound of something hitting the ground, it almost sounded like Xayah’s throwing feathers, before he could check out what happened the men greeted him

 

A large muscle bound Lhotlan waved at him letting his light blue ears flick in his direction, A smaller and more slim Lhotlan gave a small wave to Rakan and retreated behind the larger Lhotlan. 

 

“Hello, you must be Rakan” A stocky red Lhotlan held his hand out to shake hands with Rakan, his face aged and scarred.

 

“It’s cool to see you guys but have you seen a girl up there?” Rakan wanted to find Xayah before he could begin pleasantries.

 

The older looking Lhotlan spoke once more, “The one with purple feathers? She was right behind us when we came down.”

 

Suddenly something pushed through the men,

 

“Rakan!”

 

“Babe!”

 

Xayah ran up to Rakan embracing him, Rakan reached down and embraced her back. She rubbed her hands up and down the charmer’s back feeling him close once more. When Rakan looked up he saw the three men smiling and tilting their heads at the warmth they showed each other. Rakan blushed thinking about the sight of them, locking his eyes between the Lhotlans.

 

Everything seemed like it was okay, just for this moment.

 

Between the legs of the freedmen he noticed a purple feather sticking out from the ground, Rakan released Xayah and began to walk over to the feather. When he could see past the trio his heart dropped.

 

There were narrow cuts across each of guards throats, with purple feathers standing to the side of each of their heads. Each slit sobbed a bright crimson, blood slowly dripped onto the leaves beneath them.

 

Rakan grasped his throat, almost like he was feeling for a cut of his own.

 

“You promised me…”

 

Xayah spoke up, “Rakan, you know that they were going to be a problem in the future.”

 

She began walking closer to him.

 

“I asked you, you promised me…” Rakan couldn’t find the right words.

 

“I did what I had to, they were gonna just wake up and come right back after us, they needed to go babe.”

 

Rakan whipped around, thrusting one foot forward and his hands behind his back balled into angry fists.

 

His face twisted in rage, “You promised me!” He roared in her face, causing her to take two steps back.

 

“You promised me you wouldn’t kill more than you had to, they were out cold, we could have just walked away from this!” Rakan continued his verbal assault.

 

“If I didn’t take them out we’d have more people chasing us!” She shrieked back,”Remember what happened last time you asked me to not take out the problems?”

 

Rakan closed his eyes in agony, the picture of the poor Lhotlan laying in the snow with bullet wounds flashed across his mind once more.

 

“That wasn’t my fault!” He started again.

 

“If you had just let me take out the rest of the guards they never would have shot at us!”

 

“I can’t take much more of this Xayah!” His ears stuck up in rage.

 

_ This is just like the last argument we had about this, _ Xayah thought.

 

“Then what are you doing in a rebellion” Xayah jabbed the question at him, “What do you hope to accomplish when they’re taking and enslaving us one by one, some of them are even killing us, and you want me to let them live on knowing what they’re gonna do?”

 

Rakan grabbed his head, it throbbed in unbelievable pain.

  
  


“Yes! We’re not them!” Rakan just wanted her to feel what he felt, “They’re scared of us, our magic, our way of life, we don’t need to kill them, we need to make them understand or we’ll never do more than hide!” Rakan took another step in her direction.

 

“They’ll never understand, and if you can’t get that through your head we can’t…” she paused,

 

“Then we can’t  _ what? _ ” He spoke with a shallow voice.

 

“Then we can’t be together.” Tears began to well up in her eyes, she didn’t want to say that, so why did she?

 

Rakan felt tears well up in his eyes as well.   
  


“You’re right.” His voice quivered.

 

“We can’t be together…”

 

“No please don’t say that” She reached out to him.   
  


“Xayah, I think-”   
  


Tears fell off his face and onto the ground.

 

“-We should” He sniffed, feeling the wind blow cold air on his wet eyes.

 

“Please don’t” Xayah whimpered, letting her own tears fall.

 

Rakan’s eyes rolled up to the sky.

 

“Break up.” Rakan whimpered in pain.

 

He sniffed again and began to walk backwards, he saw the three men begin to walk up behind Xayah to comfort her, the Red Lhotlan looking at Rakan beckoning him to come back and talk this through.

 

Without another word Rakan ran off, he didn’t know where he was going but he knew he was going to get away from all the bloodshed. His heart couldn’t take it anymore, no more pain, no more suffering, he just wanted to go back to the Lhotlan tribe and hide away. His legs felt like jelly, he couldn’t move anymore. With his last bit of strength Rakan climbed the same curved tree he was leaning against a few hours ago. Rakan laid himself out on a sturdy branch, feeling its bark dig into him. The branch cradled him in its curved limb, Rakan felt tears fall from his face as he closed his eyes, he felt so exhausted.

  
_I’ll figure out later… after I wake up._


	3. Drifting

_ I can’t do this anymore, _

 

“Do what? What are you talking about?” Her soft voice made his body burn up, it felt like being set on fire.

 

“If you love me you’ll try and look at it from my point of view,”

 

He felt a familiar hand run through his blonde hair, his ears twitched each time his hair caught their hand.

 

_ I did, and I saw the pain in their eyes _ .

 

Rakan opened his tired eyes, she was sitting with a soft smile on her somber face. He was resting his head on her lap, they were sitting in a gently rocking boat floating down a river Rakan couldn’t quite remember but the air around them had a lingering sense of deja vu. Her eyes were half closed but, Rakan noticed the familiar amber color in her eyes was faded and dull.

 

“I still love you, Rakan” Her lips barely moved, her voice sounded like it was going to give out.

 

Rakan felt the wood of his boat with his toes, the wood resisted his push. He tried to lift his head off her lap but his body refused to move off her soft thighs, even his tail couldn’t move.

 

He took a deep breath, smelling the moist but earthy air.

 

_ You don’t treat me like you love me. _

 

“But I do love you,” Xayah tilted her head slightly.

 

_ Then why did you break our promise miella?  _  Rakan bit his lip when he called her by that name, do I still love her?

 

“They needed to go, for our cause, for our people Rakan, don’t they mean anything to you?”

Her eyes remained half shut, the gloss in her eyes was barely perceivable.

 

_ What makes their lives worth less than ours, how are they supposed to understand when they’re dead? _

 

He paused waiting for her response, but pressed on upon her hesitation.

 

_ You killed them in cold blood miella, you ended their lives when they were no threat to you or our people, how could you mie- _

 

Rakan stopped himself before he could call her that special name once more.

That special pain entered Rakan’s heart again.

 

_ How could you... Xayah? _ He couldn’t think of anything else to call her.

 

“How could you Rakan?” She questioned him back, finally her eyes opened a little more.

 

_ How could I what? _ His ears folded down.

 

“You think I called all those people, what about the people you’ve hurt Rakan, I know you’ve killed before, what makes that any different?” Her voice was finally getting louder, the pain Rakan could hear in her voice made his heart pound.

 

_ I had to! _ His voice began to grow.

 

“What happened to not harming them, how can they understand when they’re dead?” She tilted her head slightly again, as if to flaunt the fact that she had a point.

 

_ You know I had to, I would never have chose to kill them if I had another way out! _ He could hear the Lhotlan growl in his throat, a deep clicking sound that only came out when Rakan felt cornered.

 

“You had to, or you chose to?” She raised her legs, raising Rakan’s head off her lap.

 

_ I had to, you know I ha…  _ His voice died out before he could finish arguing with Xayah. The river they were floating down had bodies floating face down, the water running red with what Rakan could only assume was their blood. The recognizable smell of magic and the earthy smell of death hit Rakan with a staggering force, his face twisting at each burning stench. His ears folded back to a point and his eyes began to water with each body he saw drifting in the hellish stream. On each body there was always a feather sticking out of it, they were mostly Xayah’s deep violet feathers but after every few corpse he could see a golden feather stick out of a body.

 

_ I had to… there was no other way, _

 

He made eye contact with her once more, the smile folded into a frown, her eyes gray. She looked angry and hurt.

 

“How could you Rakan, how could you do this to me,” water began to build up in her eyes.

  
  
  


”To us?” 

  
  


Rakan felt something wet lightly tap his face, he couldn’t see storm clouds but water began to poor on both of them. Rakan looked away from her, he couldn’t take anymore pain, he just wanted to get away from her. She was cruel to him.

 

Xayah knew she was hurting me but she didn’t care, so why should I? Rakan thought to himself.

 

He looked over the river running red once more, before closing his eyes feeling tears of his own hit his thighs. Rakan turned around reaching a hand out to touch Xayah, to search her soft hands one last time for any love at all, he didn’t want to leave her but his heart couldn’t take all the killing anymore. Killing them was killing him.

 

She flung her hand out, throwing a feather at his open hand while she scooted away from the golden Lhotlan. She covered her eyes with her hands, hiding her tears and pain from him.

 

Rakan looked down at his hands, through the watery blurred vision of his eyes, a large cut ran up his wrists. Rakan didn’t grab the slit in his wrist, he just held the back of his hand observing the cut. He couldn’t see the crimson brightness of blood but the scintillating light that usually came from his feathers. He looked back up to Xayah to see if she saw the mess she made, but she was gone. Rakan sat alone in the boat, he put his slit wrist over the boat and let some light drip into the blood. With each drop the blood began to mix with the gold creating an orange liquid that separated from the river. Rakan’s eyes widened at the concoction it made, before he could observe it more the boat began to tip over. As Rakan gasped he flung himself up from his nightmare.

 

A familiar woody feeling grasped his toes, rain dripped down on to his feathers and slid onto the wide limb of the tree. Rakan pushed himself off the branch and looked down the hill where the caravan of people were. The animal was no longer there but, he saw 5 bodies. No Lhotlans around though. The stocky grass was folded down in one direction, like a group of people stomped over it. 

 

”That must be where they went” Rakan thought, he tried to focus on the situation at hand but one person plagued his exhausted brain. 

 

**_Xayah_ **

 

With a sigh Rakan slid down the curved tree and blinked the tears in his eyes away. He had all the time he wanted to sit and sob, he could heave his sadness out for hours, Rakan knew he had the time and feelings to do so. He took a deep breath and began to walk down the hill once more, he felt like he needed to talk to Xayah one last time before he could truly part ways with her. He respected her enough to find closure in the time they spent together, 7 years felt like a long time but Rakan knew that he would have hundreds of thousands of years, possibly millions of years to do anything he pleased.

  
  
  
  


Normally Rakan needed to be told time and time again personal questions about Xayah but the subtle pain he kept close in his chest reminded him everything she told him. The color of her eyes, her favorite color, her favorite food, how she wears her hair, it all gently pushed his thoughts aside. He needed to be around her, just see her, hear about her, but he couldn’t live to be with her once more.

 

No more pain, no more suffering.

 

No more “us”.


	4. Thoughts

Walking through the red fields felt like hell on Rakan’s heart, they’ll only remind him of their fight for who knows how long. The bodies were already being consumed by Ionia, small insects beginning to pick apart the corpses. Seeing them like that, just letting them sit out to be bleached by the sun and eaten by nothing more than pests. 

 

Rakan huffed and followed the beaten tufts of grass.

 

The earthy stench followed Rakan for a while, the smell of death never really bothered Rakan as much as seeing the corpses. At least the stench made was natural, at best one could say it’s...  _ unpleasant _ but not artificial. Feeling the smell of death fall behind took some of the feeling of responsibility Rakan put on his shoulders, he felt like their death was partially his fault. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

 

He envisioned their corpses once more, this time two signature feathers stuck out of each body.

 

Gold and violet.

 

The murderer and the murderess.

 

Rakan’s eyes flicked open, the path he followed had began to slip away along with the field of memories. To a normal human the trail would be considered cold, nothing more than an invisible scratch against pitch black bark would be the only clue someone could follow. Rakan took another deep breath, feeling the strong burning smell of magic attack his nostrils. Catching the scent lit a soft fire behind his eyes, the faint glow let him visualize the lingering arcane.

 

He was one of the best when it came to sensing magic.

 

He wrapped his feathers close to his body, his muscles shivering and shaking from the subtle frostnip of the damp night.

 

Even with the frostnip trying to bite him and the darkness of the night distorting his path he continued forward, the thought of stopping disgusted him. What did he plan to say to her, did the dream really mean anything? 

 

Searching for her…

 

Searching for her love?

 

“No, we can’t be together.” Rakan faced the ground.

 

What was he going to say to her…

 

What time is it? Where exactly am I? How far did she go?

 

Rakan sighed, questions he couldn’t produce a good answer to.

 

He rubbed his tired eyes, he should only focus on one question. What should I say to Xayah, no this isn’t right. 

 

What could he say to make something out of nothing.

 

“No, that’s not what this is about.” He continued to speak to himself.

 

Another question beat down on his thoughts, Why? Why did he need to find Xayah. They were broken up and he should do exactly what that implies. A pit in his stomach formed thinking about why he needed to be with her one last time. 

 

He wanted to rub his belly but the still iciness of the night would rob him of his energy and the little heat his mystic plumage provided. The pain, he didn’t know what would hurt more, needing to stop or letting the cold beat him.

 

Rakan closed his eyes and grabbed his stomach, it hurt emotionally to stop but his body was fighting against his feelings. He rubbed up and down on his stomach feeling his lean body spasm in an empty pain, the ugly feeling made his abs press into his core.

 

With a grunt, Rakan laid down on top of a large rock, he curled up into a ball letting his feathers drape over him to keep the cold out. 

 

Rubbing his stomach didn’t take the pain away but it definitely felt like comfort. His mind was clear for just a moment. The sound of running water hummed in his ears, he hadn’t noticed it before but there was a large river moving gently with him. Peaceful sounds, reminded him of his tribe.

 

Reality finally hit him.

 

He was headed north, to the tribe thickly veiled in trees and illusion magic. A field only the magic of a Vastaya could step through, the trick room would have no effect as long as his blood was Vastaya.

 

Rakan’s pained gaze turned to the night sky, looking at the stars reminded him of the world he fought for. How much he gave up to free his people and to protect the only place that he could really call home. The pit in his stomach slowly vanished as the stars entranced the Lhotlan, his tail wrapped around his leg. 

 

How long had he been walking, his mind told him an hour but his body told him he’d been running for what felt like an eternity.

 

He pushed himself off the rock, he could see the trail’s end.

 

It lead right into his tribe, he didn’t care about the cold anymore. Rakan was finally going home to set things right with Xayah.

 

“I’m coming to see you…” Rakan paused.

 

“We’re gonna be okay, without each other.” A bittersweet smile crossed his face, it’s go time.


End file.
